Ask HN: What new things are you planning to do this year?
To Sharpen your Mind
Learn Scala
Teach myself Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability & Statistics
Dive deeper into data mining, machine learning, and AI stuff.
Communication - take up toastmasters, possibly stand up comedy and work really hard at telling stories in a compelling and interesting manner
Finance - learn the industry back to front inside out and do as much as possible to build as much skill as possible in the areas of M&A/Investing
Network - meet as many high profile people across London as possible. Have already met two CEOs and an ex-govt minister in the space of a week with more events/introductions lined up.
Sure, you can throw code around, maybe compile some neat code and even familiarize yourself with the programming mindset. However, to understand data structures and algorithmic thinking on a deep level I think the mind must be sharp and mature.
This isn't to say that there aren't "real" programmers who are under 16 (there certainly are), but I think to learn at a deep level it might be hard when at or below that age.
Good luck!
My father was a psychologist who had a knack for analysis. One of his Masters projects was to do competency ranking of psychologists based on certain attributes. When he ran it through the people in his program most of the "worst" ended up going on to be school career advisors. He was pretty active in the community after graduation and unfortunately all the "horror stories" came from people who had done poorly on the assessment.
- Get into mobile development
- Start a company
2. Learn about neural networks.
3. Sell a kit design to a diy company.